Vastus
Vastus is the primary Glatorian in the employ of Tesara and the Jungle Tribe. Vastus is considered the greatest champion since Certavus, and is nearly undefeated. He acts as an obstacle to Gresh, who seeks nothing more than victory against him. He is the master and creator of the Heaven's Disaster. Early Life After being drafted by the Elemental Lord of Jungle, Vastus fought like a madman for his army. He would butcher innocents commonly, killing those who tried to remain neutral, even those aged and forced to remain neutral as a result. One mission led him to a plateau where Gresh had been taken care of. His job, along with Kiina, was to butcher innocents. He took notice of the death of Gresh's caretaker, and wondered who had done it. Then, they burned it all down as they departed. Another mission-a battle-had lead him to leading soldiers in a ravine. Their opponents were led by Gelu, and mostly consisting of Vorox. His side was using heavy weaponry from strategic topside locations, and raining down fire on the enemy forces, nearly killing both Malum and Strakk in the process-which led to Strakk becoming who he was, to a degree. The battle progressed to the point that the enemy forces were trapped. Vastus engaged in battle against Akida, and then, against Vorox for some time, before Kiina took Akida, and the reinforcements arrived. The battle drew to a swift end when Gelu and his officers retreated with most of the soldiers, only leaving a few to cover the exit. Not long later, Vastus would lead a contingent of men into a cave system where Gelu and Ackar's men were hiding out. While they had capable fighters, like Certavus and Tarix, Vastus's brutal tactics and sacrificing his own men led the enemy forces to being forced to retreat, by driving through Vastus's forces with their vehicles. Vastus had Malum as the only enemy soldier left, and the Fire Tribe warrior demanded death. Vastus left him with the shame of life. Vastus would later end up a prisoner of his own people. Perditus-a higher ranked soldier-had agreed to terms asked of him by five enemy soldiers- Strakk, Tarix, Gelu, Certavus, and Akida. Since none of the warriors wanted the war-only the Elemental Lords wanted it-Perditus agreed to their demands. That Vastus be locked away for the remainder of the war. Vastus was overpowered, and imprisoned as he tried to fight back. His arms and legs were locked into steel containers, keeping them fully restricted. The steel was chained to the walls. He was forced to stand like that for one year, being fed little food and water a day. Over time, his blood stopped boiling as it had during combat. He became calmer, less bloodthirsty. When the Shattering hit, Vastus stumbled into the Agori of the Jungle Tribe, and helped them in the establishment of Tesara, joining and becoming their primary Glatorian. Vastus had found peace there, and had met back up with Akida, and met Gresh-never learning that Gresh was the one who murdered the old soldier. Bara Magna Certavus Years would go by, and eventually, Vastus would come to see the legendary skills of Certavus. However, Certavus didn't live for very long in the arena before he died elsewhere of strain on his body. Because of this, Vastus became enthralled in Certavus's skills, but, couldn't memorize them, due to them being so fast, and actually seeing so few fights. He would then go on to search for anyone with more information-finding any carvings, stories, anything. Vastus would train for years with this information. As the first Grand Tournament came, he opted out of it. Ackar claimed victory in the arena that year, all while Vastus trained. The second year, he entered, and used his scythe only. He was defeated in the arena by Exuro, who in turn went on to be defeated by Tarix. After this loss in the first round, Vastus redoubled his efforts, and focused more than ever on Certavus. In every year following, up until the year prior to the current day, he fought and won each Grand Tournament, using a combination of his own skills, Certavus's skills, and a theory of Certavus's which evolved into the Heaven's Disaster. Vastus remained nearly undefeated in the arena from that point on, and kept a firm hold of the title of champion. One year prior to the present day, he fought in the Grand Tournament, and reached the finals against Tarix. Prior to the battle, he encountered a Skrall of the special corps., and fought him. He killed the Skrall named Stronius with a Heaven's Disaster, but that left him drained for his fight against Tarix. He told an Agori to warn others of the Skrall approaching, since they seemed bloodthirsty, and then, went into battle. He lost for the first time since the second tournament that day. He didn't walk away with the title of champion. He was easily bested due to his weariness, and accepted his defeat. The next day he discovered that the Agori was dead, and Bone Hunters had killed him. He tracked the Bone Hunters down, and used his Disaster to butcher them. He kept the Skrall information with himself, however. In the present year, Vastus would go on to tell Gresh of the name of "Certavus". Gresh, being young, hadn't heard of Certavus, somehow. Gresh later learned the hard and rewarding way who he was, and discovered the Book of Certavus. Vastus would then set out for Tajun, and meet up with Ackar. The two reminisced, and Ackar learned about the day the Skrall first appeared, and Vastus's loss to Tarix. Vastus later came to learn of Gresh's new abilities when he saw Gresh fighting in ways he only dreamed of being able to. He was able to quickly defeat Calif with an attack Vastus had only heard of, and wanted that skill. Vastus would fight Gresh in the arena, and quickly best the young warrior. With a victory in hand, he learned some of the information from the Book, and also taught Gresh how to keep himself from giving information away if tortured, as he feared the Skrall may do to him. He would go on to see Akida's death, and, Gresh's victory over a Skrall as nearly a direct result of his victory over Gresh. He then fought Strakk in Tesara, outside of the arena. Despite Gresh trying to stop them, the fight went to its end with Vastus as victor, and Gresh learning an important lesson from the champion. Vastus would then go onto a rematch with Tarix, in which he quickly bested Tarix, showing him that his prior victory had been nothing more than a fluke. Mata Nui Some time later, he heard about the appearance of a new warrior named Mata Nui, and how he had saved Ackar from a sand bat. He sent summons to Tarix, who agreed to a tag team match. The summons were then sent to Ackar and Mata Nui, who accepted. A two on two match-Tarix and Vastus against Ackar and Mata Nui-soon began. Vastus met Mata Nui as a powerful opponent, and fought hard. Vastus nearly lost to Mata Nui, but the golden armored warrior finally fell from his wounds, leaving Vastus as the only of the four standing, and leaving he and Tarix the winners of the match. He would then see Mata Nui as a rival to him, much to Gresh's chagrin. Gresh then recklessly challenged Mata Nui the night of their departure. Vastus was shocked by Gresh, and ended up not attending the battle in Tajun. He would later hear about Mata Nui's victory over Gresh, and come to respect Mata Nui even more, over Gresh's recklessness. Not long after, Vastus organized a party consisting of himself, Gresh, Zendra, Kiina, and Mata Nui. They were going to set out after the Bone Hunter camp, and destroy it. Along the way, they all encountered the mad warrior named Telluris and his Skopio machine. All of them would try to fight the massive war machine, but each would fail. Finally, Vastus used Zendra's chain to swing in, and use a point blank Heaven's Disaster on the machine's body, causing massive damage, and forcing Telluris to flee. As they set out again, Ackar arrived with summons for Gresh or Vastus. Gresh opted to leave, and went back to Tesara with Ackar. The party would soon reach the fringe of the Bone Hunters camp. They snuck into it under lead of Vastus, and were soon discovered. Vastus quickly cut an officer of the Bone Hunters down, and went with the rest of the team farther into the camp, fighting all along the way. Soon it was evident after splitting up that the Bone Hunters were falling back. It didn't take long for Vastus to realize that they were trying to protect their leader, Cruor, from someone, who Vastus guessed to be Mata Nui. He would soon arrive with the rest of the team at the main holdings, and see that Mata Nui was indeed the main threat to Cruor at the moment. Vastus was there to witness the monstrous power that Mata Nui, when combined with the Ignika, truly had. He saw Mata Nui wipe Bone Hunters out of existence, and overflow with the powers of life. As Mata Nui returned to normal after the Bone Hunters had fled, a Thornax flew through the air, and went off near all of them, leaving them all in different parts of the camp, and nearly killed. Vastus would stagger away from the explosion, and never see any of the others. He wandered endlessly through the desert, thinking about his past. Eventually he would stumble back into Tesara, and see that Gresh had failed against Sahmad. He fought against the slaver Agori, despite his wounded state, and his blood started to boil again. The battle continued on and on, eventually getting bad enough for Sahmad that he called his Spikit in to attack. Vastus defeated the Spikit, and as his blood boiled, had Sahmad in a death grip. He released Sahmad and demanded him to depart, and spread the story of his defeat. Vastus collapsed, but managed to free a single Agori, who would go on to free others. Vastus, unconscious, would be carried off and healed. Gresh Five days later, Vastus would set out for Atero. He arrived early enough for the Grand Tournament, and remained there, waiting like so many others for Mata Nui, Gresh, Raanu and the rest of the group. When they finally did arrive, he was skeptical of why Raanu was missing, but soon believed it upon hearing the entire story. His first opponent in the Grand Tournament was Calif. He quickly overpowered the Fire Tribe warrior with his superior scythe, and got a quick win. After witnessing Gresh defeat Verin, his next round opponent was Tarix. He fought Tarix once more, fighting for the title of champion between them. He would eventually defeat Tarix, without the Heaven's Disaster, and move on to fight Gresh, after Gresh would defeat Drak, which there was no doubt about. During the battle, Gresh displayed the Heaven's Disaster, enthralling Vastus, and making him want to fight Gresh even more, and learn how Gresh could use it. As he and Gresh fought, he learned that Gresh's Heaven's Disaster was nothing compared to his. He started to win quickly, bashing Gresh around. Soon, the younger warrior unleashed a much more powerful version-worthy of the name, Heaven's Disaster-and used it on Vastus. This attack defeated Vastus, and allowed Gresh to move onto the finals. Vastus would witness the battle between Gresh and Stronius, and see Gresh lose. As Stronius would turn on Gresh to murder him, Zendra intervened. After he quickly put Zendra down, Vastus himself intervened, and fought off Stronius for some time. Other Glatorian would join the fight and help to keep Stronius at bay alongside Vastus, who was trying to protect Gresh, who finally reached his level, or so it seemed. After pooling their efforts, they eventually defeated Stronius. As he and Vastus spoke, Vastus executed him, like he had to his master before him. Vastus would later mount a turret at Arena Magna, and read into Gresh and Zendra's newfound friendship, quickly discovering what it truly was. After the Skrall retreated, he returned to Tesara, and would then decide to fight Gresh again in the arena for a chance at Gresh to become the primary Glatorian. Upon Mata Nui's arrival at Ackar's insistence, Vastus and Gresh began. The fight was long and fierce, and at many points it seemed that Gresh had him defeated. Vastus managed to hammer Gresh's wounds, however, and soon defeated him before giving Mata Nui an important message-to never surrender, and to slay Tuma as soon as he could. To just end it all. As a result of his victory, Gresh remains secondary Glatorian, with Vastus staying as primary. However, he believes he has started Gresh on a path to become his successor as a result. Holy Spherus Magna Empire Vastus was among those present in Roxtus when Mata Nui declared war against the Empire. He journeyed to Tajun in time to see Gresh fighting the Glatorian of the village. He shouted to Gresh, to make him stop when he began mocking Surel as an old man, and not desiring his techniques. He explained that he was there to watch Gresh train, and had made a good choice in coming, saying that Gresh was killing himself with his persistence, and that he had to slow down. When Gresh didn't believe him, he had Gresh look at his own chest armor, seeing the blood. He looked to Drak's swords, which were clean of blood. He revealed that Gresh was only pushing himself into an early grave, like Certavus had. Vastus revealed that Gresh's own ambition was killing him, not Certavus's techniques or anything else. He warned Gresh to slow down, which the younger warrior seemed to understand. Gresh said he had to defeat Saga, and that this was the way to do it. Vastus told him that it wasn't worth it. Gresh demanded to fight Vastus, to which Tarix had no problems with, claiming Vastus could teach him more. The two began to fight, and soon, Gresh fell, unable to even touch Vastus or disarm him. He went in for the throat, but a single finger stopped his blade. Vastus pushed Gresh into the sand, telling him that he had to control his rage and find a new way. That his prior two wins were flukes, and he needed a new way to fight and to win if he wanted to keep going. Vastus then departed, leaving Gresh to think. On the way to the Empire, the Skrall discussed if the thought he would die or not, or what other reason he would lead a suicide mission for. Vastus had volunteered for no apparant reason to lead the Skrall to the Empire under Mata Nui's wishes. He actually wanted to do it to give both Gresh and Verin something to strive for with his potential sacrifice, thinking of them as his two apprentices. On the way, moving around the Valley of the Maze, he pointed out the presumed location where Exuro and Invado entered from. As they continued, they eventually reached the walls, and scaled them, landing on the other side. Vastus assumed that everyone was in church, after hearing the bells. They entered into a tower which doubled as a church and began planting their Thornax supplies around, attempting to bring the tall building down, believing that it could cause damage as it fell, and, it would be a symbol, the destruction of the church. As they continued, they soon encountered an Order of Seven member, Intorqueo. The Skrall told Vastus that they would deal with him, and rushed in, only for Vastus to watch Intorqueo casually kill them one by one. Vastus entered the battle, only to discover that Intorqueo could create illusions, as soon as he was captured in one. He was attacked by Intorqueo, and slain. Vastus made mention that he assumed he was "dead", and attacked Intorqueo, who then woke, realizing that he was in an illusion, as soon as he saw his foe's scythe in his body, ripping him apart with a Heaven's Disaster. Vastus was then thrown aside, and it was revealed that it had all been the main illusion first cast. The fight devolved to fists, and Vastus overcame his opponent, pummeling his opponent's pack on his back, frying the life support he wore. He fled as Intorqueo lay on the ground, dying. After Gresh returned, blinded, to his home, Vastus eventually came in, shouting at him for his weakness, for his stubbornness not to accept help. He left to see to an explosion outside. As he looked around, he couldn't find any evidence of who had done it, and neither had any Agori around. He soon was targeted by Amipal, and managed to use his enhanced senses to fend off the invisible assassin. They spoke briefly, and continued to hammer each other. He managed to defeat Amipal, who fled. Abilities and Traits Vastus boasts considerable agility, but god-like speed. Most opponents can't even see him moving, due to his complex knowledge of how to work his muscles to make himself move faster-thanks to Certavus. He would sometimes seem to slither across the ground like a giant snake, and would use his scythe like an accompanying fang by plunging it into the opponent. Thanks to intense studying, he has knowledge of Certavus's impressive repertoire. And in addition, thanks to Gresh, he has some knowledge of even more techniques. Adding Certavus's deadly techniques to his own repertoire, Vastus has a full arsenal of choices, all powerful. All deadly. Vastus is also the first master of the Heaven's Disaster technique, which would later be learned by Gresh. He is also master of the Thornax Sickle. Vastus comes off as a cold, calculating warrior in the arena. Otherwise, he acts as a wise, mentor like figure to Glatorian like Gresh. His wisdom is a result of a year of being imprisoned, and, from learning Certavus's techniques to refine himself, body and mind. Weapons Vastus typically only wields one weapon in combat. He wields what's been dubbed as the Thornax Sickle-a weapon which reportedly, he is the master of. It's a long shaft with a scythe blade mounted on one end, and a Thornax Launcher on the other. He often uses both sides to unleash a Heaven's Disaster onto a target.